zigito

Our lovely Zig passed away yesterday - he suffered a neurological seizure as a result of the bacterium spreading to his brain. The specialist said he felt no pain. He was with us at the end.

Just got back off the phone - they have said that the infection most likely has spread throughout his body given his symptoms and the nature of the bacterium. He has also said that if we tried with antibiotics, we could see results within 2-4 weeks, an improvement, not completely better and would have to be on them his whole life, but at least its something. Hopefully our darling is one of the lucky ones that survive.

Thanks! We are still in early days yet I guess. We're still waiting on more spleen aspiration results to come in today and have more things to discuss with our specialist.

Hi, thanks so much for your reply! Ziggy has two issues: 1. Back injury - most likely a disc slip between the 3L and 3T according to our specialist. Ziggy exhibited pain in this region during a physical exam. They think it is a 'slow slip'. The paralysis is most likely due to this. We haven't been concentrating too much - the specialist is concentrating on the infection so far. We can't afford spinal surgery and are considering a wheelchair for him if we proceed with the bacterium infection treatment. He has a bit of muscle wastage already (has been paralysed for about 5 days now) and so are considering physio or similar to help regain strength of his muscles. We don't have a prognosis as yet - this is something we need to discuss with our specialist today. 2. Mycobacterium infection in the spleen. They are trying to narrow down the cause - Bovian, Avian or TB strain. If it is the TB strain, then they often see a tumour or similar in TB cases - this tumour could be pressing against his spine causing paralysis. Treat the TB - hopefully he can recover from paralysis. But this is just a theory at the moment, they're not sure. They're not sure if the infection is isolated in the spleen - he has lost a lot of weight and has fairly severe anaemia - maybe this indicates the infection has spread? Something to ask our specialist today.

Hi everyone, Our 9 year old Mini Dachshund has just been diagnosed as having Mycobacterium in his spleen. (a group of bacteria including Bovian, TB and Avian viruses) He is very anaemic/pale. Our specialist has advised this is a hard to kill bacteria with long term (6 months+) therapy involving antibiotics. Even then the likelihood of being successful is slim at best. In addition to this he has injured his back and is paralysed in his rear end, having no ability to walk and needing us to prop him up when toileting or eating. Our options at the moment are euthanasia or trying treatment with the view that will most likely not be successful - and this is just addressing the bacteria. Coupled with his back problem we just don't know what to do. Obviously we are being guided by our Veterinarian and team of specialists, but we wanted to know if anyone else out there has had a dog with Mycobacterium infection and what their course of action was. Thank you.